Bored of plain steak or just want to tune up a pale plate? Check out these peppercorn sauce recipes that will spice things up at any date!

Peppercorn sauce origin has been lost on the pages of great recipe books and only lives in our collective memory as something that goes with steak beside mushroom sauce. Although crushed peppercorn was used for centuries -to rub the steak in, to give it a pungent characteristic, yet complementary flavor once seared- making sauce from it must be a very new phenomenon given that no centuries old cookbooks mention it.

It’s not surprising as cream or milk -that is used as a main base for the sauce- weren’t always abundantly available for anyone to experiment with it unlike black pepper that was available so long that even Ramses II from Egypt had some into his nostrils stuffed. Don’t ask why, people from distant history did strange things.

What peppercorn was used for?

Although black pepper was known for long, it wasn’t widely available or at least not for those on the budget. Black pepper native to India was imported through Italy to Europe was a highly expensive spice that it could even have been used as a currency. The king of the Visigoth Alaric went so far as to ask part of the ransom for besieged Rome in 3000 pounds black pepper.

Not just nobles and kings liked their food spiced up though. Once more black pepper started to trickle into Europe through various newly discovered trade routes, its price came down, so it became accessible for the middle-class too.

The exact origins of peppercorn sauce are unknown, but it is likely that it has its roots in French cuisine. Black pepper has been used as a spice for centuries, and it is mentioned in ancient Roman cookbooks. However, the first known recipe for peppercorn sauce was not published until the 18th century.

Nowadays black pepper come to be so cheap that McDonald’s gives bags of them out for free. Not bad from a spice the people waged wars for.

Ingredients

Beginner

⅓ cup / 100ml Wine or brandy
2 – 4 teaspoons / 6 – 12g Black pepper to taste (freshly ground)
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
½ cup / 125g Milk
½ cup / 125g Cream

Advanced

Peppercorn base

⅓ cup / 100g Wine or brandy
2 – 4 teaspoons / 6 – 12g Black pepper to taste (freshly ground)
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt

Bechamel sauce

2 tablespoons / 30g Butter
¼ cup / 30g Flour
1 cup / 240g Milk

Overkill

Peppercorn base

2 tablespoons / 30g Butter
2 medium / 75g Shallots or ½ Red onion (finely chopped)
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
2 cloves / 6g Garlic
2 – 4 teaspoons / 6 – 12g Black pepper to taste (freshly ground)
⅓ cup / 100g Wine or brandy
1 piece / 0.1g Bay leaf
2 sprigs / 2g Thyme
1 cup / 250g Bechamel sauce or cream

How to make peppercorn sauce

Beginner

In a saucepan bring red wine or brandy to boil then add the crushed peppercorn and salt.
Reduce the liquid on low heat until it thickens. It takes about 1 – 3 minutes.
Stir in the milk and the cream.
Bring it to boil and simmer away a bit of liquid if a thicker sauce is needed or replace part of the milk with cream.

Enjoy!

Advanced

Peppercorn sauce

Add red wine or brandy with crushed peppercorn and salt into a saucepan then reduce the liquid to get a thick sauce.

Bechamel sauce

Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat then gradually incorporate the flour.
Once all the flour is added we get clumps of buttery flour.
Start incorporating the milk slowly while stirring continuously. Heating up the milk beforehand may speed up the process.
Continue stirring it until we get the desired thickness. Take it off heat and stir until all the lumps are broken up and we have a nice smooth bechamel sauce.

Assembly

Mix bechamel into the peppercorn sauce.

Overkill

Melt butter in a saucepan and saute onion with salt on medium heat until it gets a glassy / translucent look for about 1 -3 minutes.
Mix in garlic and black pepper then saute until garlic gets fragrant for about 1 – 2 minutes.
Pour in red wine or brandy then add bay leaf and thyme.
Reduce the liquid to at least half for about 2 -4 minutes.
Mix in bechamel sauce or cream.